Candy Hearts
by JustAnotherMadOne
Summary: It's Valentine's Day in Beach City, but Peridot doesn't see what the fuss is all about... it's not like she wants a present or anything!


_**Candy Hearts**_

The atmosphere in Beach City had certainly changed for the day.

Pink banners and hearts were stuck everywhere as far as the eye could see and pictures of winged earth babies wield bows and arrows were set outside of Fish Stew Pizza. However, many people were crowded around the city giving out different items to others.

Peridot had no idea what any use all of this had.

She was back at the house where Steven and the Crystal Gems resided, watching as the four of them were gathered around the table and making little heart shapes. Amethyst cut out coloured paper into heart shapes (every so often cramming a handful of paper into her mouth), Pearl glued on white 'lace' onto the edges with meticulous care along with red 'sequins'. Garnet painted a heart shape with 'glue' and dropped a handful of glitter onto it. Finally, Steven took each heart and shook off the extra glitter and set the hearts into piles, organised by colour, light pink, red, purple and pale blue hearts were set next to each other.

Some sort of Earth ritual no doubt.

Amethyst looked up, swallowing a mouthful of blue paper. "Hey, P!" She called out. "You wanna join in?"

The green gem only narrowed her eyes. "Why?" She asked sceptically.

"It's Valentine's day!" Steven answered cheerfully, shaking white glitter off of a blue heart. "It's a day when everyone comes together and expresses their love to each other! So you give people presents and cards to show how much you care for them."

"It's very important." Garnet said, dumping another handful of yellow glitter on a pink heart. "After all, love is what makes many things possible… including myself."

Peridot wasn't convinced. Why waste time by handing over useless items when the humans could have been doing something more productive? Besides, she had far more important things to worry about, like how the clods were going to terminate the Cluster! But instead they sat around making the weird paper shapes.

"No." She said bluntly.

"Aw, but Peridot…" Steven whined. "It'll be fun! We're going to Funland later to give out the cards and ride the ferris wheel and teacups… Dad's doing a concert too!"

"Peridot, this could give you a chance to see what humans do on special days." Pearl suggested, not taking her eyes off of the red sequin she carefully stuck onto a purple heart. "I know humans are confusing, but celebrations like these are rather quaint. It might look silly, but you'll find something you enjoy."

Peridot's expression didn't change one bit. "No."

"Peridot, be nice."

"No. Thank you."

"Getting better."

The green gem had to roll her eyes as the three gems and Steven kept on asking (with Steven trying to pull a 'puppy eye' look) to join in and every time she would say no. Eventually, they slowly gave up and finished making their 'valentine cards'. She watched as the four of them took a pile of cards – Steven with pink, Garnet with red, Amethyst with purple and Pearl with blue – and began writing on each of them.

Not that she hoped one of them had her name or anything.

Now she regretted it.

Everyone had gone out now to Funland, leaving her alone to her own devices. She had already gone through several calculations for the drill already and what to do about the Cluster, as well as reminded herself the average distance between Earth and Yellow Diamond's forces…

The thought of her leader, her diamond becoming enraged and coming to the planet herself made the green gem freak out. She still regretted calling her a clod straight to her face, but at the same time loved the thrill of such horrid disobedience.

So now, she was instead watching another episode of Camp Pining Hearts, still hoping that somehow Percy and Pierre would just get together and dominate the camp. They're the perfect match, after all; she had the charts and graphs to prove it!

So engrossed in the show, she didn't notice the Crystal Gems and Steven enter the hut, all chattering away as they walked in with arms full of bags and presents.

It wasn't like any of them would have gotten anything for her.

"Hey Peridot!" Steven greeted, putting a bag on the kitchen counter. "How were things?"

"Fine." She answered snappily.

Silence filled the room for a moment before the rustling of paper broke it. "Peridot?" Pearl said. "We thought you might like these."

The green gem felt her mood rise up, excited at the idea of having something for herself, although she tried to quash it as much as she could; she shouldn't get her hopes up too high. She turned her head to look at the gems. "So, what was it you cl—"

She couldn't believe what she saw.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven were holding out a 'Valentine' and each had a present in their hands. "Happy Valentine's Day P!" Amethyst shouted, with the others following her example.

Peridot hopped off of Steven's bed and padded down the stairs to the others. "What is this?" She asked, her voice rising an octave. "But… But why?"

"We know it's been hard for you to be here on Earth, but you have been doing great!" Steven began. "So, we thought we would do something nice for you. After all, you're our friend now… and that's another kind of love!"

"So, you have valentine gifts from each of us." Garnet continued. "As a way of showing our thanks."

Peridot was stunned. They actually cared for her? And thought of her as a friend? She smiled and stepped a little closer. "I… I don't know… what to say…" She said, her lip and voice starting to quiver. "…thank you."

Steven smiled widely, as well as the Gems, as they gave the green gem her presents and cards. A 'teddy bear' from Amethyst, flowers from Pearl, a picture frame from Garnet (with a photo from the day after Steven's 14th birthday party) and a box of 'candy' from Steven in the shape of little colourful hearts.

She never felt happier than that moment.

The next morning, the gems and Steven awoke to find four shoddily cut out hearts made of green paper on the table. The sequins, lace and green glitter were a mess, but the handwriting on each one had been meticulously detailed, with the same message for each one.

'Happy Valentine's Day, Peridot'

However, it didn't save her from Pearl's fury since the bathroom floor was now covered in a thin layer of glitter.


End file.
